A GERMAN COUNT ON AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7656, 5 June 1886, Page 4 (Supplement)

A GERMAN COUNT ON AUSTRALIA.

A work has just been published at Leipzig by Von Reinhold Graf Anrepelmpt, which contains an account of his journey in Australia and New Zealand. We note some of the Count's observations —

The Count was greatly surprised by what he regards as the mania for outdoor sports in Melbourne and its suburbs. After speaking of the numerous cricket, football, and rowing clubs, he proceeds to state that their matches " engross the minds of the population to such an extent that many persons will spend their last shilling, set the most necessary work aside, and, I believe, risk their future salvation, rather than forego a recreation which is agreeable enough for a short time, but protracted as it is in Melbourne, and pursued with as much seriousness as if it were one of the most important occupations of life, inspires a sentiment of disgust, especially when one sees—as sometimes happens at the time an important cricket match is being playedthe shops closed, the houses adorned with flags, and a general holiday observed, as if some great national fete were being solemnised.

Our German critic met with a curious adventure on the 2Jih of December, 1879, as he was leisurely making his way on horseback from Wodonga to Melbourne. "Two men," he says, " mounted on strong, wiry horses, rode out of the bush, and, accosting me with ' Hullo ! old man,' motioned me to stop. One of them was a good-looking, broadshouldered fellow, with a short cut beard, and clothed in the regulation costume of the country, namely, a coloured flannel jumper of the best quality, corduroy trousers, partially covered by an excellent pair of high boots, and a strong leather belt, into which two bright revolvers were thrust. On his head was the felt hat worn in all weathers. There were pistols also, in the holsters of hie taddle. His companion was taller, mora carelessly dressed, and with a hollower countenance, showing indications of mental anxiety. At first I took them for troopers, on account of the similarity of their accoutremerits, The friendly manner of the man who addressed me disarmed suspicion, and I stopped. Approaching, me, they asked me a number of questions in a curt military manner, where I had come from and what I had heard and seen in Albury and Wodonga. They appeared satisfied with my answers, and the second said, with a pleasant smile and in a cheerful voice, 'Well, old man, come and have some lunch.' I followed them into the bush, where in a little clearing, surrounded by a thick scrub, a small fire was burning near a creek. I enjoyed some capital whisky, first-rate salt meat, bread and butter, and tea out of a pannikin. During the meal they asked ma some more questions, principally concerning the police, and whether I had heard anything about the Kelly gang. When my hunger had been appeased, they accompanied me back to the road, and on reaching it the shorter of the two said, ' You'd be afraid to meet the Kellys in the bush, wouldn't you *' 'No,' I replied, 'for I have nothing valuable about me, aud besides, it seems to me they only rob banks, shoot policemen, and don't interfere with travellers.' 'Right you are,' said he, with some strong expletives. 'They are not so bloodthirsty as people make them out to be. I am Ned Kelly ; and I tell you we are only seeking revenge for bloodshed.' Wishing me goodbye, he rejoined his brother Dan, who, after having carefully extinguished the fire and effaced all trace of it, had remounted his horse."

Nothing amazed and horrified the Count so much during his peregrinations in Australia as the wanton destruction of its forests which he found going on in all directions; Words fail to express his astonishment at this "unholy warfare" upon the woods, the "frightful result" of which must be, he says, to increase the number and deepen the intensity of the droughts which are already so disastrous to the colonies. Coming from a country in which forestry is cultivated as a science, and where all growing timber is placed on the tutelage of the State, our visitor would be naturally struck by its wholesale demolition in Australia.